Business Thinking Guided by Data

Most companies make decisions based on less than 5% of their data.

One analyst we spoke to at Gartner put the figure nearer 1%.

Oddly enough, it is your executive dashboards that hold you back. They give you regular information that satisfies your perceived need, and stops you realising that there is a much bigger itch to scratch. Next time you are looking at what those dashboards are telling you, try reading between the lines. Use them to define the questions they are not answering. This is how a data journey starts, with people asking more questions, seeking answers and digging into their data until they find actionable insights.

Actionable is the magic word here. If you find things that are beyond your control, flag them, but move on. The insights you need are the ones that you can solve or build on to change the way you do business. Not always in a big way, but lots of small steps in the right direction can have a profound impact on your bottom line.